June 14, 2009

[A]t least in Paris (in my opinion), women of all shapes and sizes and importantly, of all ages, seem to understand their beauty and valor, their unique beauty and their unique valor. They walk with pride (and so I, too, walk with pride). As if they know they’re being watched, admired, respected. For what they bring to the table.

Read the whole thing to get the hang of the argument, which is made impressionistically, with pictures interspersed. I especially like this one:

You don't normally see faces all lined up nicely like that in real life. In movie posters you see it. To great excess. But try actually getting a candid shot of strangers lined up in an interesting environment. Not easy!

One gender difference I've noticed since about junior high: Women and girls romanticize Paris to a ridiculous degree. They pin all their loftiest expectations on Parisiennes' rapturous sophistication and magic and blah blah blah that they have been force-fed since they were little. And I imagine they make it a self-fulfilling prophecy once they make their dream trip.

I'd tend to agree with Nina. On arriving at DeGaulle and the police entry cubicle, a black guy with a white woman preceded us. They looked relieved, as if they had arrived home away from shame. A girl on the bus in was aggressively affectionate with her boy friend. At some random minor musical presentation, a woman in her sun dress got up afterwords in her sun dress (?), gray hair, looking out, head up, aquiline, proud. The young lady representing the hotel couldn't have been more charming at breakfast when she approached us (speaking English) our last day there. Mme. Chanel clearly has nieces in spirit.

Chicago? Over Paris? make your argument! I just don't see it! I lived in Chicago and have daughters there so I'm favorably inclined, but still, over Paris? Nah...

A case for Chicago over Paris? That's pretty easy, actually. Paris is a medieval city -- Chicago is a city of our era, most of it built within living memory. The combination of the lake-front and skyscrapers give it vistas and dramatic views that Paris lacks completely. I do like Paris, but there's nothing like this there:

Paris would make a fine back drop for the kind of existential, ie adolescent, love affairs you have in your twenties. Chicago and New York make the proper background for the consuming love affair of one's thirties, ie greed.

Also, it depends, when you live in a city, what kind of job you have and where you can afford to live, etc.

What I mean is: I have these good friends who are Italian and live in Chicago. We all agree Italy is gorgeous, but, they can afford to buy condos and go out to dinner and basically live in a way in Chicago that they couldn't in Italy.

That being said, I'd love to live there for a year or two.

(for me, what I like about Chicago is the easy access to a robust artistic scene - music, theater, books, it's really accessibe, i.e., affordable).

I think french women feel good about themselves because everywhere you go in Paris men will stare at you. And cat-call or whistle. Or at least that's what I remember from Paris. They do it way more than American men do.

I think the writer is mistranslating the French "valeur" meaning "value" as "valor," which of course has a completely different meaning. It's funny because I'm assuming that she's American, and shouldn't make that mistake. The brain works in mysterious ways.

There was a french guy at my old work who always used to drone on about how France was so much better and how americans are idiots for thinking 200 years is "old" and then it turned out he was looking at kiddie porn on his work computer.

Comments on comments...Paris for me is nothing particularly idyllic, it's a city with a long history and a lot of things to look at (let's see, if this is the Rue Dauphine where is the Cordeliers Hall?) but for my part I'd rather live in Munich.

When one makes their 'most livable cities' list one needs to look at the criteria behind it - I'm sure I'd have a much different standard of 'livability' at the Gulfstream (even GII) level of the economic troposphere, than as a middle-class family. Sydney makes number 10 on that Mercer list but just based on 'feel' I'm inclined to prefer Melbourne.

The Chicago v Paris debate in the meta here is hilarious. Both cities are wretched. Paris is full of itself (so is Chicago, one might argue) and Chicago is a pleasant downtown surrounded by miles and miles of urban wasteland (so is Paris, one might argue).

I love Paris. It is my favorite city in the world and I have been there many times - most recently last month. I like the French just fine. But I have never noticed that French/Parisian women were anything special in terms of inherent beauty. We just discussed this very topic when we were there last, as we sat street side watching them go buy.

Without doubt, they are very stylish (long scarves - heavy on yellow - wrapped every which way around necks and shoulders is the latest...in case you're wondering). But I have never known the average Parisian woman on the street to be particularly well-groomed. They are clean but often sort of grubby - a studied, affected unkemptness masquerading as stylish insouciance. They don't venture much beyond black garments. Their "stylishness" always struck me as contrived and forced - though perhaps, as I think on it, that is the essence of "style". The general exception to this generalization is the older Parisian women who are invariably smartly clad and coiffed, and with no shortage of flair.

Parisian women are fine but nothing special either in beauty or garb. You want that, get thee to Spain.

I'd heard about the supposed beauty of women in Paris, but when I went there, I was surprised by how ordinary they looked (in terms of face, hair, and demeanor). What I noticed were the men. They were different, and much more attractive and charming than the average American man. I was particularly struck by the quietness of their voices in restaurants. They seemed to have much less of a need to display manliness, and I don't mean to say they were unmanly.

Ann Althouse said... I'd heard about the supposed beauty of women in Paris, but when I went there, I was surprised by how ordinary they looked (in terms of face, hair, and demeanor). What I noticed were the men.

No offense to any Frenchmen on here, but frankly, when in France, I find the French men a bit scary looking. The women seem like they are comfortable with themselves and carry themselves well.

You don't normally see faces all lined up nicely like that in real life. In movie posters you see it. To great excess. But try actually getting a candid shot of strangers lined up in an interesting environment. Not easy!

It's actually quite easy in Paris. People at the cafes like to face out to the square so they can people watch. That's why they are lined up facing the same way.

My girlfriend and I were in Paris for the first time this May, and were both shocked to find that the only well-dressed, attractive women that didn't have scowls on their faces seemed to be tourists. The Parisian men seemed to agree, ogling incessantly over my g/f.

I have never been to Paris, but judging by the great diversity in the comments here, I would assume the physical appearance, dress, and demeanor of the women could be just about anything or nothing I was looking for.